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Monday, 3 September 2012

The day before, Saturday,
it was time for the K1s, where the local Iván Alonso was the main favorite, as
he already won in spring the Spanish Cup and the World Cup at Copenhaguen. At
the start line, fighting for their chance, were some other great paddlers like Jorge
Alonso, José Julián Becerro, Rafael Carril, Xabier Ruíz de Aretxabaleta, David
Rodríguez Dorado and even Julio Martínez, paddling again on a K1 since a long
time ago.

From the first lap, all of
this favorites were in the leading group, except surprisingly Julio Martínez
and José Julián Becerro, suffering just a few metres behind, and José María
Pariente, Spanish Champion just two years ago, who didn’t look like having his
best day. The positive surprise was the appearance among the best ones of Julio
Moreno, one of the outsiders of the race.

At half of the competition,
more or less, it was pretty clear who would be the candidates for the two quota
places for Rome, es there were four solid leaders (Xabier Ruiz de Aretxabaleta,
Iván Alonso, Jorge Alonso y David Rodríguez Dorado) and three paddlers who went
forth and back on each lap, suffering to much to be considered in good position
for the medals (Rafael Carril, Julio Moreno y José Julián Becerro). This last
one, Becerro, finally retired and only Carril managed to stay forward until the
end.

On the lead, Iván Alonso
was showing himself very strong at the portages and always looked to have the
race under control. And as he made in Copenhaguen at the World Cup, at the last
portage, with just 800 metres to go, he made a superb run who let him board
with a few metres of advantage, enough to face the finish line on his own. Just
20 metres behind, the fight for the remaining medals was terrific between Aretxabaleta,
Dorado and Jorge Alonso. The first one then took his risk at the exit of the
portage, but he capsized and then lost all his chances.

Then, Iván Alonso was
claiming his first Spanish Championship and he’s going to Rome with good chances of being on the
podium, even fighting for gold against the top international paddlers, if
McGregor is not imposing his dictatorship, as shown in Singapore 2011.

From left to right: Jorge
Alonso, David R. Dorado, Xabier R. de Aretxabaleta and Iván Alonso. Foto: Fotoyos

In the final sprint for the silver medal, David
R. Dorado managed to get a well deserved second position and his berth for the
World Championships in his first senior year, while Jorge Alonso got bronze. Rafael
Carril finally got the fourth position surpassing Aretxabaleta when he was
trying to get the water out of his kayak after the capsize. The brave Basque
ended in fifth position.